Thread-winding machine.



w. MARLOW.

THREAD WINDING MACHINE.

W NN COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 50.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

W. MARLOW.

THREAD WINDING MACHINE.-

APPLICATION FILED JAN-14.1914.

1 15mm Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOURAPH C0.,WASHlNGTUN| D. c.

W. MARLOW.

THREAD WINDING MACHlN-E.-

APPLICATION FILED JAN-14.1914.

Ptented Oct. 26, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3- ZUL'ZmeJJeJ:

7% M 7%? Wi 7 m, ja/erdorv COLUMBIA PLANOGRAI'H 00., WASHINGTON, D. c.

lllldld I 1* WILLIAM MARLOVT, OF 'NEVJ YORK, 'N. Y., ASSIGNCR T0 STANDARD KNITTING MILLS COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

THREAD-WINDING llrIACi-IINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

l atented @ct. $6, iltblli.

Divided and this application filed January 14, 1914. Serial No. 811,967.

?; all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM MAnLow, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Thread-l/Vinding Machines, of which the following is a description, tlns application being a divisionof my application Serial No. 729,592, filed November 5, 1912.

My invention relates to improvements in machines used for winding the bobbins used in connection with knitting machines, from cops or skeins, and is more particularly directed to improvements in the means for securing a uniform tension of the thread upon the bobbin and for varying the rate at which the machine may be operated.

The bobbins ordinarily used in knitting machinery are of a conical form in order to permit the thread to be easily unwound therefrom, the thread being taken through a guide located above the'bobbins when the bobbins are in use on the knitting machine.

It is well known that in order to secure uniformity of work and to prevent the thread upon the bobbin from becoming entangled, it is desirable to wind the thread upon the bobbin at a uniform tension. This tension should be the same at all points upon the bobbin irrespective of its diameter. The winding machine, therefore, should be capable of increasing the tension upon the thread when it is being wound on the smaller diameter of the bobbin and decreasing its tension when it is being wound upon the larger diameter of the bobbin. In prior machines it has been sought to accomplish this result by putting a greater tension upon the thread as it comes from the swift or skein holder through the various guides to the bobbin, or it has been attempted to produce this result by increasing and decreasing the speed of the bobbin while allowing the rate of oscillation of the build bar, which controls the manner in which the threads are laid side by side upon the bobbin and the speed of the machine as a whole to remain the same. These methods produce bad results, one of the principal of which is that the swift or skein holder tends to continue rotating at a rate of speed appropriate to the highest rate of speed of the bobbin. When the bobbin slows down the skein holder continues to revolve by reason of its momentum thus producing a large amount of slack thread which is apt to become entangled with itself or parts of the machine. \Vhen the bobbin speeds up again this slack is first taken up, the skein holder being by that time almost stationary. By the time the slack is taken up the bobbin is again revolving at the high rate of speed and it therefore starts the skein holder revolving by a sudden pull upon the thread, which is very apt to cause breakage. It has been sought to counteract this by puttinga brake upon the skein holder but such a brake if suiiiciently strong to check the momentum of the skein holder will put an undue amount of strain upon the thread at high speeds, thus causing it to break. Another serious objection to the prior methods is that if the regulation of the speed of the bobbin is accomplished irrespective of the rate of oscillation of the build bar the threads are closer together and frequently cross one another at the smaller diameter of the bobbin, thus causing it to lose its proper conical shape.

In my improved machine the regulation is referred to the speed of the swift or skein holder, the object being to revolve the swift at approximately constant speed, which speed shall be the highest speed at which it is practicable to work the particular yarn then being operated upon. The swift, therefore, will give on the yarn at a given uniform rate, and the varying diameter of the bobbin is compensated for by in creasing the rate of rotation of the bobbin while the thread is being wound upon the smaller diameter and decreasing it while it is being wound on the larger diameter, the rate of oscillation of the build bar being changed synchronously with the change in the rate of rotation of the bobbins so that the thread is always evenly laid upon the bobbins irrespective of their rate of rotae tion. It is thus apparent that the speed of the machine as a whole is changed to give an approximately even rate of rotation of the skein holder. The thread, therefore, is always taut and always under the same tension. It is also desirable, in order to obtain thehighest ethciency from the machine, to work the machine at the highest speed that it is possible to work it, taking into consideration the thickness and character of the thread. The speed at which the spindles carrying the bobbins may be revolved and the other parts of the machine operated, therefore, should be easily adjustable so that in changing from one kind of yarn to. another, an operator may easily change the speed of the machine in accordance with the character of. the yarn.

Another desirable feature of a winding machine, in which the tension is regulated, is to be able to control the rate of variation of the regulation, or, in a machine such as I have referred to above, where the speed of the machine as a whole is changed to accord with an almost constant speed of rotation of the skein holder or swift,'to control 7 the rate of acceleration of the machine for yarns having different physical characteristics.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, strong and positively acting machine to accomplish all of the above desiderata and which maybe operated by more or less unskilledoperators and is unlikely to break down or get out of order.

' In the drawings accompanying this specificatiomI have shown in Figure 1 a side view of my improved machine, parts ofthe machine beingbroken away. In Fig. 2 I

have shown'a. vertical section of my improved machine along the line A-A of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow, and in Fig. 3 I have shown a plan'view of my improved machine with portions thereof broken vaway in order to better illustrate the parts. 7

Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that my improved machine has the usual conicalshaped bObblIlSyOIlGOf whichis shown at 1, mounted upona rotating spindle 2, which spindle is provided with a grooved wheel 3 carrying a belt 1, which passes around the grooved wheel 5 mounted upon the spindledrive shaft 6. It will be understood that r the spindle-drive shaft extends the entire length of the machine and that all of the other sets of spindles and bobbins are 'duplicates of that illustrated in the drawings. Spindle-drive shaft 6 is driven by means of a belt 7 passing about a pulley 8, keyed to a shaft 6,'and about a pulley'9 attached to a shaft 10 preferably located at or near the bottom of the machine. Mounted upon the shaft 10 is a cone pulley 11, and mounted upon the shaft 12 is another cone pulley 13 oppositely disposed to cone pulley 11.

" Fixed upon shaft 12 is a pulley 1 1 over which runs a belt 15, which transmits thepower for driving the machine. Connecting pulleys 11 and 13 is a belt 16 which passes around both of the pulleys 11 and 13 and through arms 17 and 18 fixed to a carriage 19, whichcarriage is preferably placed between the pulleys 11 and 13. Carriage 19 also carries a jockey pulley 20 which is vertically adjustable to take up the slack in belt 16. Carriage 19 is adapted to move upon a rail 21 and may be provided with rollers or bearings for facilitating its travel. It will thus be seen that the power used to drive the spindles is brought in through belt 15 and transmitted through pulley 14 to cone pulley 13, belt 16, cone pulley 11, pulley 9, belt 7, pulley 8, shaft 6, pulley 5, belt 4 and pulley 3 to the spindles and it will also be seen that the rate of rotation of the spindles depends upon the location of belt 16 upon cone pulleys 11 and 13 and. that this position may be altered by shifting the carriage 19 along rail 21.

Keyed to the end of spindle drive shaft 6 is a pulley 22 over which runs a belt 23, which passes over another pulley 21 located at the bottom of the machine and at the opposite end from that at which the cone pulleys are located. Pulley 24 is keyed to a power shaft 25 and it is thus apparent that the speedof this shaft must vary with that of spindle-drive shaft 16 since they are connected together. The speed of shaft 25 is reduced by appropriate gearing 26 until it finally drives a shaft 27, which has attached to its end, a cam 28. Pivoted to the rear of the machine and extending transversely of it, is a lever 29 which carries a roller 30 adapted to operate upon the face of cam 28. At the end of lever 29, nearest the front of the machine, is attached a chain 31 which passes over'a pulley 32 and is attached to one end of a bell-crank lever 33. To the other end of the bell-crank lever is attached a vertical rod 3% which connects the bellcrank lever 33 with the build bar Appropriate connections are made to insure both build bars operating together and to insure their being lifted evenly throughout their full length.

Located along the upper surface of the build bar and in front of each spindle are a plurality of screw threaded former spindles, one of which is shown at 36. Former spindles 36 carry a former 37 which operates in the usual manner by contact with the bobbin and which carries a guide 38, which guide also engages a vertical rod 39 in order to prevent its rotation.

Located above the bobbins are the swifts or skein holders 10 carrying the thread or yarn 11 which passes downward through a guide as over a brush cleaner 13, through a scraper -14 and through a guide 38, to bobbin 1.

Geared to shaft 27 in a one-to-one relation main frame of the machine, and which carries at its end a crank 51 shown in the drawings in the form of a flat disk. Attached to the face of the disk at a suitable distance from the center is a crank-pin 52 about which connecting rod 53 revolves. Connecting rod 53 is connected by means of a collar and set screw 54 to a vertical oscillating rod at about its center.

Oscillating rod or lever 55 is pivotally connected at 56 to a collar 57, which collar is mounted upon a rod 58 which is attached to the mainframe of the machine by means of two brackets 59. The arrangement is such that by loosening the set screw in collar 57 it may be moved along rod 58 1011- gitudinally of the machine so as to change the pii otal point of lever 55.

Attached to the lower end of lever 55 is a connecting rod 60, the other end of which is attached to carriage 19, which has been described above.

The operation of my improved machine is as follows: The machine shown in the drawings is winding thread upon the larger diameter of the bobbin. Assuming that it is winding toward the bottom of the bobbin, crank 51 will be rotated in the direction of the arrow. and cam 28 will be turned so that roller 30 will be moving over a surface having a constantly decreasing radius. Under these conditions the build bar 35 will be lowered by bell-crank 33 being pulled forward by means of chain 31 and the connecting rod 53 and will be moved toward the left (see rig. thus oscillating lever 55 moves toward the left about pivot 56 and moves connecting rod 60 and carriage 19 thus shifting belt 16 toward the left-hand ends of pulleys 11 and 13. The left-hand diameter of cone-pulley 13 being smaller and the right hand diameter of cone-pulley 11 being larger, the rate of rotation of the shaft 6 is decreased. This decreases the rate of rotation of the spindle 2 and of the entire machine through pulley 22, belt 23, pulley 2 1, gearing 26, etc. It will thus be seen that the machine as a whole has slowed down as the diameter of bobbin 1 has decreased, thus permitting the machine to take a constant amount of thread and keeping the tension uniform. As the operation of the machine continues, build bar 36 rises and belt 16 is shifted toward the right upon cone pulleys 11 and 13, thus increasing the speed of the machine as the diameter of the bobbin decreases. l/V hen a stronger thread is used the machine may advantageously be run at a higher average rate of speed since there is less danger of breakage of the thread and the machine will operate at higher efficiency. This is accomplished by moving collar 57 to the left (see Fig. 1) thus changing the pivotal point of lever 55. This has the effect of causing belt 16 to travel over a different portion of the cone-pulleys 11 and 13 from that over which it traveled when the parts were in their original positions. As moving collar 57 to the left moves carriage 21 and belt 16'to= the right, '5. 6., toward the larger diameter of cone-pulley 13, the average rate of speed of the machine is increased without substantially varyingthe amount of speed change. Conversely, the average rate of speed of the machine may be decreased by moving collar 57 to the right along rod 58, thus causing the belt to operate over the lefthand end of cone-pulleys 11 and 13. If collar 54 is moved upward upon the lever 55, this hasv the effect of increasing the length of travel of belt 16 upon the conepulleys 11 and 13. Inasmuch as belt 16 must travel from a given point upon the cone pulleys 11 and 13 to another given point and return to its original position for a complete cycle of oscillation of build bar 35, the rate at which belt 16 travels from the pulleys l1 and 13 will be greater if the distance to he traveled over is greater. Thus the speed may be changed within greater limits, and with a higher acceleration, when desired. This is effected by moving collar 54 upward on oscillating rod 55 thus bringing the point of attachment of connecting rod 53 closer to the pivotal point or fulcrum 56, conversely where a short travel is desired on account of the characteristics of the yarn operated upon, collar 54 may be moved downward, thus bringing the point of attachment of connecting rod 53 farther from the pivotal point or fulcrum 56 of oscillating rod 55.

I am aware that many methods of practising my invention may be found and that equivalent mechanisms may no doubt be devised and I therefore do not intend to limit myself to the precise details shown and described.

VVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a machine of the character described having a main frame, speed changing means connected by a belt, a lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine and adapted to move the belt to thereby change the speed of the machine, means for oscillating said lever, and means for changing the pivotal point of the lever to vary the average speed of the machine, the amount of speed change being maintained substantially constant.

2. In a machine of the character de scribed having a main frame, speed chang ing means comprising a pair of cone pulleys connected by a belt, an oscillating lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine, means for oscillating said lever, a carriage connected to and moved positively in both directions by said lever whereby the belt is moved along the pulleys and the speed of the machine changed, the pivotal point of the lever being adjustable whereby the average speed of the machine may be varied.

3. In a machine of the character described having a main frame, speed changing means, a lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine and adapted to control the speed changing means, means for,

oscillating said lever, and means for changing the pivotal point of the lever to vary the average speed of the machine, the amount of speed change being maintained substantially constant.

4. In a machine of the character described'having a main frame, speed changing means, a lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine and adapted to control the speed changing means, means for oscillating said lever, and means for.adjusting said oscillating means to thereby vary the amount of speed change. 7

5. In amachine of the character described having 'a' main frame, speed changing Copies of this patent may be obtained for means, a lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine and adapted to control the speed changing means, means for oscillating said lever, means for adjusting said oscillating means to thereby vary the amount of speed change, and means for adjusting the pivotal point of the lever, to vary the average speed of the machine, the amount of speed change being maintained substantially constant.

6. In a machine of the character described having a main frame, speed changing means, a lever pivoted to the main frame of the machine and adapted to control the speed changing means, a link connected to said lever for transmitting motion thereto, and means for adjusting the point of connection of said link and lever to vary the amount of speed change.

WILLIAM MARLOVV. Witnesses:

WALTER S. JoNns, WM. M. EARL.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

7 Washington, D. G. 

